Tarrant County commissioners OK expanded rules for who can be taken to jail diversion center

Tarrant County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to expand entry rules for the mental health jail diversion center.

The mental health jail diversion center, which opened in January 2022 in Fort Worth’s Fairmount neighborhood and is run by MHMR, previously only accepted people who had been arrested on criminal trespass charges.

It will now accept those who have been arrested on misdemeanor theft, possession of marijuana, nonviolent terroristic threats, disorderly conduct and false reports, in addition to criminal trespass. The diversion center will not accept anyone arrested on charges of a violent offense.

The center will also transport those taken to the Tarrant County Jail who display signs of mental illness. That was a recommendation brought forth by the sheriff’s office, commissioner Roy Charles Brooks said.

Leaders hope the expanded rules will help increase the population at the diversion center, as well as lower the county jail’s population.

“This is huge,” said Brooks.

Ramey Heddins, MHMR’s chief of behavioral health, said last week the diversion center was only accepting 27 or 28 people a month. It has the capacity for 40 patients. Admission rates were slowly ticking upward, Heddins told commissioners last week.

Brooks told the court on Tuesday that it had always been a goal to expand the type of charges accepted at the diversion center.

“We reached that point now, partially because of the under utilization of the jail diversion center, and partially because it’s just the right thing to do,” Brooks said.

Brooks said county leaders would continue to reach out to local law enforcement agencies and work with their command staffs about encouraging officers to divert people to the center.

“We have to make sure the culture around diversion changes,” added commissioner Manny Ramirez.